New member and new owner of a classic Hiace

Hi Folks - I'm totally new to Hiace's, but now own one following a drunken bid on a 1980 camper on ebay last week that resulted in me winning it.

I collect it later this week and hopefully it should get me home..

Anyway, having not even eyeballed it in person, I can see from the pics that it's a bit rough around the edges with the interior being the priority (assuming the engine is OK). The dash looks like it's had a hard life, with half of the plastic panel missing where the original spindle mount radio would have been. It also looks like a previous owner decided that removing the lower cubby and sticking a din sized modern radio in it would be the way forward.

Having come from vdubs where everything is available and easy to get hold of, old Toyota's seem to be a harder challenge. So I figured I'd start by trying to get some recommendations on any good scrappy's or dealers that carry used parts and bit for these old vans?

I think I'll post a wanted ad or 2 on here as well, as Someone may have a dash or interior stuffed away somewhere...There was a really sound dash in a parts vehicle that sold on ebay last night. I wonder if it was bought by anyone on here?

I generally do most of the work myself on old cars, so I'll be asking plenty of questions in the tech area too.


Cheers

Matt

Yes, Toyota's never needed so many spare parts lol

Congrats BTW. The manual is here: http://www.toyotavans.org/community/tips/tips.html

As you may not know the service history I'd change all fluids and filters first.

Also Toyota may still supply bits, always worth checking.

The mechanical stuff should be available from Toyota dealerships. When it comes to the engine, it is probably more generic and you could check on Ebay and such.

Here in Holland there is a company that has some stock in old Hiace parts for that generation. I'm not sure if it will have a dashboard.

Have ordered the parts from this website. Seems quite reasonable really, although sourcing one from a scrap vehicle would have been slightly less expensive..
I can't post external links but the company is called amayama.com.

I also managed to find an original center seat base cover, but the company wants 250 euro's for it.

Useful to know, thanks,

https://www.amayama.com/en

Japarts also looks good

http://www.japarts.co.uk/shop/

If you just want a seat cover it may be that a local trimmer can do it for less. Are you in the UK?

GPW wrote:

If you just want a seat cover it may be that a local trimmer can do it for less. Are you in the UK?

Yes, Uk based. I think that I'll get all of the seats retrimmed next autumn. I'll sling a mexican blanket over them for now.

Having picked up the heap today, I desperately need a new dash. The one in it is foobarred. If anyone hears about someone scrapping a 79-82 van, please can you point them in my direction?

Thanks

I think you need to do a lot of searching, but the alternative is to make a cool custom one.
Another alternate to wrap it in vinyl.

Does it just have a lot of holes in there?
I agree with GPW that it may be easier to get it covered. Might be easier than finding another one.

I've managed to find someone that's scrapping one. Fingers crossed I can get some parts from it..

Yeah, great news. They have a decent dash! I'm well pleased!

Sounds good!! The difficult bits to source are the trim and small details, grille, lights etc. so stock up!

mankey wrote:

Hi Folks - I'm totally new to Hiace's, but now own one following a drunken bid on a 1980 camper on ebay last week that resulted in me winning it.

I collect it later this week and hopefully it should get me home..

Anyway, having not even eyeballed it in person, I can see from the pics that it's a bit rough around the edges with the interior being the priority (assuming the engine is OK). The dash looks like it's had a hard life, with half of the plastic panel missing where the original spindle mount radio would have been. It also looks like a previous owner decided that removing the lower cubby and sticking a din sized modern radio in it would be the way forward.

Having come from vdubs where everything is available and easy to get hold of, old Toyota's seem to be a harder challenge. So I figured I'd start by trying to get some recommendations on any good scrappy's or dealers that carry used parts and bit for these old vans?

I think I'll post a wanted ad or 2 on here as well, as Someone may have a dash or interior stuffed away somewhere...There was a really sound dash in a parts vehicle that sold on ebay last night. I wonder if it was bought by anyone on here?

I generally do most of the work myself on old cars, so I'll be asking plenty of questions in the tech area too.


Cheers

Matt

agree totally, ex vw owner here and I could have ordered everything for a dub van within an hour on the net, these beasts is a totally different ball game..................good in some ways very frustrating in others